I’ll tell you up front that I’ve already picked a name. It is one that I thought of that several of your suggested as well. But I’m interested to see if it would be voted in as the name, so I’m putting up a poll. And here it is.

Hmmm….I tried crossing my right thumb over my left and it felt really unnatural. I guess this is one of those things that you just do. I will be curious to see which sock pattern wins! I know which one I really think it looks like, but it could go another way too!

I was right in the middle of leaving a comment, and things went wacko on me!
Anyhoo, as I was saying before it all froze up:
Like Suzanne, who was apparently leaving her comment at precisely the same time I was trying to, I tried crossing the ‘other’ thumb over (left in my case) and it was Wrong. Just Wrong. Weird.
Here’s another one for you — when you kneel down on one knee, which knee is it? Doesn’t seem to be related to handed-ness very directly!
The Insect Kingdom has obviously resonated with readers for the new sock. I’ll be curious to see what’s your name, Wendy! (I have a guess, but I’ll keep it to myself.)
Lucy is not troubled by right-left dominance questions. Which paw does *she* favor when she’s batting her milk-carton rings around?

I answered left thumb on top & right handed which is true, but I used to fold my hands the other way. I consciously changed it when I was around 12. I don’t remember why I did that. Just a weird kid thing I suppose.

Hi Wendy!
I did a high school biology project (for the genetics portion of the class) on how people in my family clasp their hands. Supposedly, right thumb over left (which is how I cross my hands) is a recessive trait and I could trace the trait through my family. I’m really interested to see the results of the poll! I didn’t have the internet back then. 🙂

I just got sock patterns at LE! Woohoo! Oh, it’s funny about that clasped hands thing – must be something in the air, because I was just wondering about that a couple of days ago and played around trying to see what felt most comfortable to me and if I do it the same way all the time. Hmmm…..

And for the sake of curiosity, are you and the KOARC lefties, righties or one of each? Like Cathy-Cate said, it felt Wrong doing it opposite of the “natural” way for me. (Which is R over L).The sockage is looking fabulous, BTW.

I always have my left thumb on top. I’ve read that the thumb on your dominant hand will be on top, so if you’re left-handed (like me) your left thumb will be in front of the right one. Is KOARC a lefty?

You know, I voted for left over right/right handed, but before doing so I sat here for several minutes and tried to figure out whether I really do have a preference, and I’m not sure I do. Interesting, considering some of the comments about how one way feels just WRONG to people.

I find it interesting that more people lace with their non-dominant hand on top. (although the margin is very small for lefties when I voted) I am a leftie who laces with the right on top. I tried it the other way, and I agree with the other commenters that it just feels wrong. You didn’t mention your handedness or the KOARC’s. I’d be interested to know if you both follow this trend or not.

Yaaaaaaaaaay! I got the patterns that I wanted. Checked out quickly to be sure they stayed in my cart. Now I can go back and see what she has for yarn. A way to hedge on my Loopy Groupie status, too.

Not only do people clasp their hands a particular way, they cross their arms and sit “Indian style” with a particular arm or leg in front. I’m right on all three, but am left-handed. In the words of Colonel Klink (Hogan’s Heroes), “very interestink.”

I think the hand/thumb thing is interesting, too. I cross with my right thumb on top, but when I clap (like the cheerleader clap, where you have thumb, thumb, then 4 fingers of each hand) I have my left thumb on top. Crazy, huh? =)

I’m an oddball, apparently, as my two thumbs kind of nestle up parallel to each other, rather than one thumb on top of the other. However, I should add that I only have three fingers + thumb on my left hand, and four fingers + thumb on my right, so my left hand naturally gets encompassed by the right. Dunno what I’d do or be as a “normal”. ;-D

Hi!
I learned in a teacher’s workshop years ago, that if you cross your fingers with the left thumb on top you were a more logical thinker. If you crossed your hands with the right thumb on top, you were more a creative type. Seems to hold true when I ask people to do this, knowing their personalities a bit ahead of time. Try it and see if it holds true with people you know.

I coach little kids at fencing, and some of them are too young to know what we mean when we ask which hand they color with (and will hold the sword with), so the other coach has them clasp their hands like that. But I do it “backwards” (dominant thumb on top) from what he thinks is normal, so I never thought it was a very good predictor. Interesting to see the results!

I had a little trouble with the poll…I’m “both handed” 🙂 Not completely ambidextrous, I do some things left handed and other things right handed. Of the seven kids in my family, the first three are righties and the next are lefties (Mom’s a lefty too). I count myself in the lefty group because I write left handed, but do most other things either right handed or with either. I think I’m the only one in the family who does this.

I clasp my hands like you and I am left-handed. Oh, and to those of you who are interested in the MMF Apple Rose colorway (featured in Wendy’s Loopy Laces pattern), TLE has it restocked last I checked. Enjoy! : )

We talked about the thumb thing in high school too! I think left thumb on top was supposed to be the dominant gene…I think I remember feeling kind of disappointed that having the left thumb on top wasn’t like being left-handed (I’m both).

As for the fiber, I’m going to guess mohair for the top and angora for the bottom.

First I think the top yarn’s fuzzy come from mohair and the bottom is angora.
I am a righty and I put my left thumb over my right…..I can see where lack of sleep could lead to this very interesting question. I will now worry what this means! 🙂

How about folded arms? – you know, the position that psychiatrist-types say is either defensive or secretive body language. While I am a leftie with the right thumb on top, when I fold my arms, the left arm is on top…go figure. Congratulate me, though, I was FINALLY able to purchase a few of your sock patterns (following multiple, frustrating attempts*^#@) Yay for persistence!

Whew! Finally made it to the Loopy Ewe to buy your Healthy Spine pattern before they were all sold out. I can’t wait! Not many left handers on the thumb-crossing poll. I’m one of the few. But, you know, we’re the only ones in our right mind! 🙂
And yes, I’d guess alpaca and mohair on the mystery yarn.

Love the new sock. Thanks for the heads-up about your patterns. I went right over to The Loopy Ewe and bought them all. I had missed out all the other times she had them. I’m so excited. Very interesting with the thumbs. I’m a left crossing right hander.

I am going to guess that both of them are mohair. The bottom one is definitely a brushed mohair because it has a crimp to the yarn, where as angora wouldn’t. I think that the bottom one is brushed and the top one isn’t. Though I would have to touch them to be certain.

He interlaces his fingers in a completely different order than you. I asked my left-handed husband to do the same and he interlaces his fingers were left thumb on top, so I’m betting that the KOARC is either left-handed or, possibly, should have been left-handed but was trained out of it because it seems like it would be a good test of dominance.

That is the funniest poll (about the thumbs) I’ve seen in a long while. Thanks for thinking about such things in your spare time. I’m sure there was a PhD thesis done on this very topic somewhere and at some time. It’s too darned funny. It sort of collates at which arm do you put in your coat first – right or left? It’s nearly impossible to put your coat on the opposite way. Now I wonder how both of these correlate to knitting English or Continental? Questions. Questions. Questions.

What no option for ‘Right thumb over left thumb, I’m right-handed but was switched as a child’? Yes, I’m another Catholic school survivor. I also selected the least voted upon sock name, which is typical for me and possibly related to the thumb/handedness thing (lol).

I agree with Cynthia:
“It isn’t what thumb is on top, but what index finger… you’re going to alternate your fingers and then thumbs.” I’ve also been LOLing about all of us crossing our hands and arms throughout cyber land. Great poll!

I finally got to order your patterns! I’ve been checking every couple of hours most of the time since you said you were going to mail them a week ago last Fri! Yesterday I checked before sitting down to dinner– no joy. I checked immediately after dinner– yay!!! I can hardly wait. I already have the yarn! Wheeeee! Thank you, thank you! Third time was the charm!

I went searching for your patterns..the heart pattern didn’t seem to be on the LE website. Did I miss it? I really like it a lot and would like to purchase it.
Loved the thumb thing. I learned to play the piano at a very early age so I’ve always been quite ambi-dextrous but I do cross r t over l t…sign of a creative mind, indeed! 🙂

R handed, but L thumb on top – but what julieanne (#29) pointed out was interesting – I clap the other way, too. And if I clasp my hands without lacing the fingers, the R thumb is on top. Interesting, interesting.

How about ear dominance? Which ear do you feel most comfortable using when talking on the phone? I’m left-eared (though I don’t talk on the phone very often… I’m deaf & use the relay most of the time or ask my partner or one of my sons to make voice calls)… weird thing (or maybe not so weird) is that my left ear is the weaker of the two, but sounds are clearer on that side…

I’m right handed (left thumb over right, but keeping them parallel like one other gal mentioned is very comfortable as well)…years ago when I was taking drawing classes in college, I was at a disadvantage when our professor asked us to do a drawing with our non-dominant hand & since I always would grab the charcoal or whatever with my left hand when working on the left side, I was comfortable using my left hand so the exercise didn’t do me much good. On hindsight, I should have mentioned that to the professor, perhaps we would have had me doing that same exercise with my toes instead! 🙂

PS: there’s 6 of us in our family & we are evenly split between right handers and left handers… the two youngest are lefties, the twins are righties, I’m a righty and the boys’ dad is a leftie… Gary & one of my youngest (a lefty) both clasp right over left…

As usual there is a forgotten group here. I consider myself to be ambidextrous, so I can’t answer the poll 🙂 Even though I can do most things well with both hands there is only one thumb that agrees to go on top, my left one…

All graphics, patterns, text, and content on this site are the sole property of Wendy D. JohnsonCopyright (c) 2002-2018 Wendy D. Johnson
Not to be reproduced in any form without written permission from Wendy D. Johnson